One thing I'd like to do one day is to start a non-profit agency that pays for trips for families who have lost a loved one. I know a trip to Yellowstone was better than any medicine just after we lost Alli. It helped us all bond as a family and escape from day-to-day living. When your world has changed as completely as it does for those who are fresh to the world of deep mourning, it can really help to get away from the mundane. I know I, personally, looked around with raw, painful eyes that had been so fundamentally transformed and felt what I saw should reflect the pain I felt inside. It just didn't feel right that headlines didn't shout that I'd just lost a baby. It felt wrong that this piece of furniture or that blanket sat exactly where it sat when that person was alive. I just wanted to escape my own skin. I've been to Yellowstone several times before and since that day, but none of those trips have felt quite so magical as that one trip.
We were pondering sending my friend, who has just lost her husband, on a trip somewhere but then found out someone had beaten us to it. I haven't had the chance to talk with her about it, but I'm sure it will help her state of mind to get away for a while.
Even after I came back from the physical trip, I found that reading and watching movies, a mental escape, helped some. It helped to read and experience other people's (real or fictional) stories, so I didn't have to be stuck in a world so full of my own pain. Sometimes, it helped when I was able to read other stories like mine because it allowed me to realize I'm not alone. It also helped me see how others make it through. Escape was such a good thing for me. I know I'm not alone.
